I have a 79090 that just developed the exact same problem. The machine had problems from day one and had to have the print head replaced within a few weeks of getting it. It is now 2 1/2 yrs old and worked fine....till a few days ago with banding in black and white prints that I can clearly see if I print out a black and white gradient image but not in other colors. The nozzle check initially showed a bit of dropout and then was complete though I think one line might have appeared a bit lighter. Still the same problem and now a bit of dropout on the nozzle check again. Two super strong cleanings and 5 or so regular cleanings and a lot of wasted ink. The tech on the phone could not help me other than to say run cleanings since it is out of warranty and referring me to, you guessed it, Decision One with the same price quotes. They want to bill me $100 travel, $175/hr min 1 hr and %1712 in parts and will refund me for any unused parts.....why do I think they will all be used....

I would love to know if this was ever resolved other than with an expensive repair. A machine at this price really should last longer.

I remember when I had Decision One replace the capping station and clean the print head on my 7600 there was a new nozzle clog afterwards that wasnt there beforehand. They refused to do anything about it and said that you can't expect perfect checks and it wouldnt effect output. It cleared itself after several weeks but I was pretty angry at the time.

....The tech on the phone could not help me other than to say run cleanings since it is out of warranty and referring me to, you guessed it, Decision One with the same price quotes. They want to bill me $100 travel, $175/hr min 1 hr and %1712 in parts and will refund me for any unused parts.....why do I think they will all be used....

....

I think the strategy is more "hmmm, let's replace this part and see if that solves it." They start slow, and then all the parts are installed. In practice, it's not a bad stretegy. The parts (aside from a new head) are relatively inexpensive. And if your printer is out of warranty, those "replaceable parts" have been used for a while and it's not a bad idea to replace them with new ones---the thought being they also might be nearing the end of their useful life. It's the labor that's gonna hurt your pocketbook. Not much consolation, I know. There are definitely little tricks/tips to keeping your Epson printer happy, and it'd be great if these were consolidated into a booklet. (e.g. monitoring humidity levels with a hygrometer; I haven't had a single clog since on my 9800; I've been told to monitor humidity more closely with my 9900).

Replacement Epson printer parts here (for the more daring diy'er): http://shopping.netsuite.com/s.nl/c.362672/sc.18/category.22055/.fI'm not so daring. There is also a decent article at the bottom of the link/page on Epson wide format printer maintenance and repair. Some good tips there on printers/maintenance/usage. At the bottom of the article is a link to a site where you can search for service manuals, like the Epson 7900/9900. The service manual is about $40 at www.2manuals.com Again, no experience with 2manuals, as I'm not so daring, and haven't had a need (knock on wood) to do any such repairs/replacement.

I have old firmware based on the if its not broke why fix it philosophy. I womder if it might be worth updating and doing another power clean to the LLK pair only (cant do power clean to pairs with the firmware I have.)

Really, what are the sales numbers and what are the percentages of users (in the various technology periods) with access to the internet and of them, how many posted on forums and so forth? That's just two problems you have with your claim. "Conventional wisdom statistics" indeed. The need to put that term in quotes says about all that needs to be said about it.

This is exactly why we need to continue our pursuit with Epson; if we had all the facts/information our conversation would be pointless. However, the whole purpose of this thread is to raise awareness and document known issues.

Really, what are the sales numbers and what are the percentages of users (in the various technology periods) with access to the internet and of them, how many posted on forums and so forth? That's just two problems you have with your claim. "Conventional wisdom statistics" indeed. The need to put that term in quotes says about all that needs to be said about it.

If you have the failing printer, scanner or something else and you have paid for it a lot of money and the company claims this is a professional grade product you have expectations. If something fails shortly after the warranty ends, and the company seems not even be interested to solve your problem then you feel bad. Usually the companies know exactly what the problem is. And it is of no help that the printer of everyone else works fine.

When I was younger I reacted very aggressive in cases like that. Today I stay calm and call as long (or let my assistant do it) until the company solves the issue or come at least one step into my direction. If necessary I do tests to show them exactly what the problem is.

In this thread I described 2 1/2 stories that happened recently. And the problems happened under warranty, even then it was difficult to get the problems solved by Epson in one case and Canon in the other. Most people own only one piece of equipment and know nobody else who owns the same. For them it is important to have platforms like LULA for exchange.

I'm happy about every problem that is described and discussed here. I learn all the time. Sometimes the user is the problem and sometimes the equipment.

That hits the nail on the head. With my printer I had difficulties from day one requiring the printhead to be replaced within the first month. It was for a problem that was cropping up all over the internet and yet Epson acted like they didn't know what I was describing. I am sure everyone that had the problem happen had reported it to Epson as they were all under warranty at the time.

Worse, they initially absolutely refused to send someone to fix it even though it was under warranty. Why? Because I was printing on non-Epson papers and they weren't going to support output problems related to non-Epson papers, even though the problem was banding. My complaints that a pro level printer like this was made to print on all types of high quality paper fell on deaf ears and they weren't even going to address it until I showed that it also happened on Epson paper. It required my purchasing and reproducing the problem on Epson and non-Epson papers and mailing the sheets in to them before they would service the machine!

The problem now is not a simple clog. I upgraded my firmware and did two color pair power cleans to the LLK/Y channel. It restores the nozzles but one line in the pattern appears light and the clogged nozzles come back in minutes. I have never had that happen with any other color channel. And even when the nozzle check looks good, albeit a bit lighter, I get horrendous horizontal banding when I print a large gray square but not a colored square. If you search the internet you can find many complaints about this, so it is hard to believe that Epson knows nothing about it.

Nothing I can do but let the service people visit and hope the repair cost doesn't approach the cost of a new machine.

We just started having this issue. Same story. A few weeks over warranty, started seeing banding, missing a block on the top and bottom of nozzle check. No cleaning auto or manual (with cleaners) makes a difference.

I'm 100% on board with trying to get attention on this. Let me know how I can help. We're a small and new shop and this has rocked our world, not in a good way.

We just started having this issue. Same story. A few weeks over warranty, started seeing banding, missing a block on the top and bottom of nozzle check. No cleaning auto or manual (with cleaners) makes a difference.

James - Contact Epson immediately and ask technical support to give you a break... if you are within a "couple of weeks" of the original warranty. If you don't get anywhere, ask to speak to a manager. And please keep us all posted to the outcome.

I've sent them an email, but actually the initial phone rep said I was still under warranty by a few days, but later I got contacted and was told that he was new, so I think a manager actually pushed this the other direction.

nope. Other carts are all at least 30%. nozzle check print shows significant loss on LLK that cleanings have no effect on.

When I do a pair cleaning on Yellow/LLK, I get an "automatic cleaning failed (try again?)" error. Clue: try again = no worky. I will try and convince Epson that they would be doing the right thing by extending my warranty, but I'm not hopeful. It's looking like buying a new one will be a better investment than fixing this one, which is sick.

In 1.5 years, I've had serious, unfixable "clogs" on both the LM and now C channels. I put clogs in parentheses because I have my doubts and suspect something more like delamination. Both required head replacement.

In having interacted with epson and vendors extensively on these, there is no doubt in my mind there is a serious issue with these heads, and that sporadic light use can lead to the problem, and heavy use on matte paper can too.

No changes on my end. No, I have not repaired my Epson 7900 yet. I am taking somewhat of a "wait and see" approach. All my communication with Epson (that I described earlier in this thread) resulted in NO favors or generosity from them, and I just can't justify spending $2400 or more to have this problem POSSIBLY fixed by Decision One - especially after reading some of your reviews about their service! And I do have a huge issue with their ridiculous hourly rate. And with the fact that they charge you for parts and labor BEFORE they even come over to properly diagnose the problem.

So part of me thinks of just buying a new machine - but I am still not sure whether to go with a new HP or Cannon - quite a bit research has to be done before I make that decision. And then, I start to remember how much effort it took to bring this Epson monster to my 2nd floor condo up our narrow staircase - and I want to bite the bullet, and just pay for repairs, and be done with it. But then, what if my Epson breaks again after being repaired? Eeeeesh....To make a long story short, I'm in limbo on this one.

My Epson is currently running fine, with the BIG exception of the same old LLK issue - and that channel is pretty much 100% gone. ....I did have a little scare yesterday - after being of town for a week and and returning home to make some prints, my Cyan and Light Magenta channels were FULLY gone on the test pattern - but a regular cleaning resolved that. (although, I almost rejoiced for a second because that additional failure would have made my "repair or new printer" decision easier. I still fantasize about throwing this monster off a cliff. )

For the time being, I create all of my darker prints, ones that do not use LLK ink, on the Epson 7900, and all of my light colored prints are done on my old HP DesignJet - which is smaller and much slower, but runs like a workhorse.

@chaddro, thanks for mentioning the damper. From doing lots of reading on this issue, I do think that ink starvation is a possible reason. Although, I wouldn't DARE to try to install that myself. I am not at ALL mechanically inclined. However, if someone wants to come over and attempt a new damper installation - or heck, a whole new Damper Assembly - on my printer, please be my guest. I would happily pay you a reasonable rate for a successful "damper swap". ...And feed you dinner.

Speaking of exclusivity of Epson and Decision One: in my area - Chicago - there is ONE MORE service company that Epson mentioned to me when I initially, months ago, made a customer service call to them about my problem. This company is called Computer Maintenance Inc, in Addision IL (http://computermi.com/). They are NOT affiliated with Epson. They "only" charge $100 / hr, but their travel fee is $175, and their parts are a more expensive (than Decision One parts). For example, their print head price is $1300 and Decision One print head price is $1132. I called them initially, they immediately diagnosed my problem as a print head issue, and overall didn't sound too interested in repairing my printer. I thought that was odd, so have not considered using them. Perhaps though I should call them back and possibly get a more knowledgeable person on the phone.